they would
willingly return, and recommending themselves to him as much as they
were able. Filippo kept them for many days in suspense as to his
willingness to take them back; then he reinstated them at lower wages
than they had before; and thus where they thought to gain they lost, and
in taking vengeance on Filippo they brought harm and disgrace on
themselves.

The murmurings were now silenced, and meanwhile, on seeing that building
being raised so readily, men had come to recognize the genius of
Filippo; and it was already held by those who were not prejudiced that
he had shown such courage as perchance no ancient or modern architect
had shown in his works. This came to pass because he brought out his
model, wherein all could see how much thought he had given to the
planning of the staircases and of the lights both within and without, in
order that no one might be injured in the darkness by reason of fear,
and how many diverse balusters of iron he had placed where the ascent
was steep, for the staircases, arranging them with much consideration.
Besides this, he had even thought of the irons for fixing scaffoldings
within, in case mosaics or paintings had ever to be wrought there; and
in like manner, by placing the different kinds of water-conduits, some
covered and some uncovered, in the least dangerous positions, and by
duly accompanying these with holes and diverse apertures, to the end
that the force of the winds might be broken and that neither exhalations
nor the tremblings of the earth might be able to do any harm, he showed
how great assistance he had received from his studies during the many
years that he stayed in Rome. And in addition, when men considered what
he had done in the way of dove-tailing, joining, fixing, and binding
together the stones, it made them marvel and tremble to think that one
single mind should have been capable of all that the mind of Filippo had
proved itself able to execute. So greatly did his powers continue to
increase that there was nothing, however difficult and formidable, that
he did not render easy and simple; and this he showed in the lifting of
weights by means of counterweights and wheels, so that one ox could
raise what six pairs could scarcely have raised before.

The building had now risen to such a height that it was a very great
inconvenience for anyone who had climbed to the top to descend to the
ground, and the builders lost much time in going to eat and drink, an